Page 26 of Crash and Burn

Sebastian felt his heart sink and watched as Maggie's posture visibly slumped. He wasn't going to make her ask. “What is it that you want?”

“We need to search the house.”

“We've been searching it,” Sebastian countered, as though that would make them say,oh, okay, I guess you're on it then.

He was considering what to do. Maggie needed sleep. She also needed a house that wasn’t possibly full of serial killer and criminal mementos.

Just who had Sabbie been renting to?

Maggie stood up abruptly, hovering over everyone else in the room. “I haven't slept in over thirty-six hours. You're welcome to come back tomorrow morning and search the entire place.”

“We need to begin as soon as possible,” Watson stated, still sitting as though she understood that letting Maggie stand and dominate the conversation was making Maggie feel better.

Maggie shook her head. “I could have been informed when the FBI claimed the box, that there were circumstances the FBI was investigating. I could have been warned that my safety might have been in danger. You chose to wait three days. In fact—”

“We were forced to wait until the evidence cleared.” Watson interrupted, but Maggie wasn’t having it.

“Yes. I understand. And you need to understand that now you'll need to wait until you get my consent.”

Sebastian hid a smile. Lawyer Maggie was on the case.

“We can come back with a warrant.” Decker stated it as though it was friendly banter, instead of the threat they all recognized it as.

“You should have come with one in the first place,” Maggie smacked back.

For a moment, Sebastian wondered if they knew what they were up against. But then he remembered she had a sign out front. If they didn't catch that she was a lawyer, then they weren't very good agents.

She softened her tone. “I will happily let you search my house. But I haven't slept since I woke upyesterday. You interrupted a meeting with a client rather than calling ahead and asking me when it would be a good time. And now you spent almost an hour here when I was supposed to be catching up on sleep because I. Was. Up. All. Night.”

She was repeating herself, but even no-sleep Maggie was magnificent and formidable.

The two agents looked to each other again. “Why were you awake all night?”

Maggie lost it. “Because people have been breaking into my home! And I've had the same car pass my house multiple times!”

Sebastian felt his head snapped to stare at her.Why hadn't she told him?

It hit him quickly. Maybe she hadn’t told him because he’d been working. He didn’t have the kind of job where you called up and told someone that, knowing they’d be home by dinner.

Maggie rattled off information about a silver sedan. He noticed that Decker had pulled out a notebook and was jotting down information as quickly as she spoke. “License Plate?”

“I didn't get it. The times I saw it, I had my friend's daughter with me. I was babysitting. And I wasn't in a position to leave her and run out and chase the car down the street … I haven't seen it since.”

“You've been watching?” Watson added in.

“Yes. I've been watching.”

Sebastian suspected her stern tone was part of what caused the conversation to wrap up. They needed to come back with a warrant. Maggie suggested that she wasn't being rude but that she wanted the paperwork as a matter of course. She asked them to grant her at least six hours of sleep.

At last, they left. Sebastian closed the door behind them.

He expected to turn and have Maggie fall into his arms and pass out. Carrying her up the stairs and tucking her into bed would feel wonderful after this crazy morning.

But Maggie didn't fall or crumble at all. Her shoulders didn't slump, and she didn't sway. She simply watched over his shoulder out the window until the agents closed their car doors and left.

Then she pinned him with a glare. “We have work to do.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

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